The Sea Hawk by Brenda Adcock Page B

smiled.
    "When?"
    "Within a week. Laffite's ships took refuge at Bayou LaFourche. He set sail for Isla de Margarita a few days after he dispatched me to find you."
    "Isla de Margarita is a very long way to travel for a meeting. He must sail past the British at Jamaica to reach his destination."
    "Laffite does not confide his plans to me, Faucon . I am nothing more than a messenger. I leave here in two days time and sail to rendezvous with him at sea." DuChamp glanced around the tavern and pushed himself up from the table. "Now if you will excuse me, I believe an evening of rest and relaxation awaits me. I hope to see you again in about a week." Bowing to Simone, DuChamp rearranged his clothing in a failed attempt to make himself more presentable and ambled across the tavern toward a buxom young woman with a thick mane of black hair and a willing smile.
    Archambault and Anton took seats across the table from Simone.
    "What do you think?" Archambault asked.
    "I think this is none of our concern," Simone answered as she took a deep drink from her tankard.
    "You know Laffite would not propose a plan unless it involves a profit," the first mate said.
    "We have enough, Henri. The men are tired. As am I. We have been at sea so long I have almost forgotten how to walk without listing to one side or the other from habit."
    Anton chuckled and nodded his head in agreement. "We could remain on Martinique until either the Americans or the British win their little war and then ally with the winner."
    Looking intently at Simone, Archambault said, "Louis Rochat would not have allowed such an opportunity to slip by."
    As he lifted his tankard to take a drink, Simone sprang from her seat and slapped the drink from his hand. Silence descended over the tavern as she grabbed his shirt and pulled his face closer to hers. "You know nothing of Rochat," she hissed. "If you mention his name to me again, I will kill you myself." She shoved him back onto his seat and stalked out of the tavern.
    Simone swung onto the back of her horse, turning her mount away from the tavern and back toward Le Repos du Faucon . Archambault served with Rochat, having come on board the year after she was taken and knew nothing more about her relationship with the drunken old man other than she shared his cabin. When she killed Rochat and took Le Faucon de Mer , no one was more surprised than Archambault when she chose him to be her first mate. A woman with her own ship was truly a rarity. She learned much from Rochat, but needed an older man as her second in command until she was certain her crew trusted her. Although she did not trust Henri completely, he served her well in the years they had been together. As long as she was successful in keeping coins in their pockets and rum in their bellies, her crew remained loyal to her. There were times she was sure they even feared her. Despite the control she exercised, she considered her time limited.
    As she guided her horse along the sandy shore of the island, Simone knew she was rapidly tiring of the continual movement of her ships. Although she agreed to keep Anton aboard as a member of her crew, she knew their life was not what she wanted for her brother. He should marry and settle down and raise fat, happy children in peace. Her greatest fear was not her own capture and probable death, but that of her brother. She had already lived longer than she would have thought possible. As the waves came into shore, Simone wanted nothing more than to stay at Le Repos and do what its name suggested. Rest, raise her horses, and die in her own bed.
    And what of Esperanza and Joaquin? There were times Esperanza seemed filled with loathing for her own son. Simone believed Joaquin would one day grow into a fine man, overcoming the circumstance of his birth. There were times Simone believed her lover simply came to her bed to repay a debt rather than out of any true emotion, just as there were times Simone wasn't sure she could fully trust